One door closes another slams in your face

Not much more than a week after the transfer what-not shuts down and its off again with BarBarBarca saying right, in the summer we’ll have Van Persie, Adebayor, and, oh of course Cesc, and in return little Arsenal you can have…. Hleb.

That is the same Hleb who were prized away from Arsenal because, according to Barbar Arsenal is a selling club going nowhere fast.

This is so bizarrre it has taken me two cups of coffee to get my head around it. BarBar says, “Hey, Hleb, you’re a genius, come play for us, we’re a big club, what you doing with little Arsenal, come and be a big big star…” and so he goes.

And then they say, “Hey guys we have this player. He could have started 20 major games this season but he actually started 4, with 7 as sub. Hasn’t scored, we don’t like him, and don’t want him, but you might be able to make something of him.

They must be utterly out of their minds. It is like WC Milan offering us Flamini on a similar basis.

I have not read any commentaries from Flamini about his current position save one in which he made the obvious point that he would sooner be playing, but Hleb has spoken about his problems, and how his manager suggests that Hleb has been slow in learning the lingo.

I obviously have no knowledge of what goes on in the minds of players who can earn more in a week than I can (even with my stunning writing skills) in a year, but if any of them are tempted we ought to show them pics of Hleb and Flamini, just to remind them.

Of course this will go on every transfer window, so we need to be prepared – and as we have seen before a lot of this is just a childish game with the clubs in Italy and Spain trying to prove they are bigger than each other. Much is also about unsettling players, and it is in one sense a tribute to Arsenal that their hit list always includes three of our players. Next year it will be Jack Wilshere and Denilson. (Incidentally just before the transfer window shut there were stories all over the place than Manchester Arab offered Arsenal 40 million for Van Persie.

In fact WC Milan will probably offer Flamini in exchange for Denilson in the summer (Hey News of the World, you read it here first).

It reminds us indeed of what a team we have. Yes, this season has not resulted in the position I had hoped, but then had I been told that our three established creative midfielders would be lost for a long spell, I think even I might have predicted a struggle.

The phrase “Remember Flamini” was used at the start of the season to suggest what could have been at Arsenal. Now it shows just how quickly one can go downhill, and just how far above themselves players can play when working at Arsenal.

7 comments to One door closes another slams in your face

Good article as usual, thanks. Also worth stressing that AW made good (but not over the top) offers for contract extensions to Hleb and Flamini, based on what he felt they were worth and also bearing in mind the pipeline of talent coming through and expected (ie Nasri and Denilson). Hleb took strong exception to the money offered and felt he was worth more. He was wrong. As was Flamini (although if you take the view that Flamini was really only interested in a big “free agent” contract – then he was a winner). But at what cost to his France career and regular playing.

I’m a big fan of Flamini but as good as he is, he was made for Arsenal. We scout these players for years and then mould them into our team. At Milan he is not playing in his best position as there is Pirlo in a deep playmaker role.
Playing in a more advanced position means his technical ability is exposed but if he plays in his natural position then it would mean Milan will have to change their formation as they don’t have a Fabregas or Xavi to dictate play higher up.
Hleb has been injured and he now needs to learn how Barca play. I like him a lot too.

Both Flamini and Hleb needed a few seasons before they gave their best performances for Arsenal. Wenger was patient with them and allowed them the time they needed, but I wonder if they will find the same at Milan and Barca?

I feel Eboue was the most dangerous player on your team yesterday so I had mixed emotions when he was sent off, had he stayed on I feel that Spurs may just have nicked it.. but the whole Arseny team tictacs changed and with 9 men behind the ball and stood resiliantly against which on many occasions was a battering from Spurs forward line. Arsenal being fortunate that although we have spent the best part of a billion strikers we still havent got an out and out goal scorer.
All in all a good game of football…. but not the usual spectacle we have become acustomed to… and we are now looking harder to beat!!! Until next year i bid you farewell

A few realities we must accept: i) this talk of Arsenal being all fancy footwork and style and attractive football is far from the truth: this season we have been galling to watch – a bit like Blackburn under Mark Hughes. ii) this talk of going for the title… our battle is vs Everton for fifth place. Villa are rampant, whereas Chelsea and Liverpool too strong. Fifth and UEFA Cup is our likely best position. iii) This summer will be all change. We need two centre backs and a central (defensive) midfielder PLUS will have to replace everyone else who leaves. iv) All this talk of transition over the past four years: the transition starts now – how to make a UEFA Cup team back into a top four (let along title) team. It’s going to take a long time.

Well Morning goons (notice I didnt say good). Lets put the match in perspective shall we? Ok Eboue who lets be honest is not a fans favourite had a good start to the game such a good start in fact I had to do a sight test lol. Then the twit gets booked for not shutting his gob. Ok then disallowed goal for nothing really but to be honest everyone stopped playing when he slotted it home anyway so cant really say he really would of scored had play continued. Then the modric incident if anyone saw it had eboue not drawn attention to himself he would of been ok because the ref wasnt looking until eboue started pleading innocent with his body language which caused the ref to stop play thinking eboue did something (as in he was the initiater). Then the ediot narrowly escaped a booking but wouldnt just go away not he had to linger until he got sent off what a prat! He deserved to be sent off anyway but he could of escaped had he been smarter. Adebayor is out for a few weeks well that paves the way for Eduardo to get right and get back! We need a clinical striker that understands space and movement and he fits the bill very well. Its unfortunate that Vela didnt get a run before Edurdo got fit because he has good touch, pace and a decent strike rate in front of goal. I am still not convinced we are moving in the right direction. We have lost games we shouldnt of lost, drawn games we were winning and drawn games we should of won. We are unbeaten but not in good form at all. Of course our injury list has a lot to do with that but at what point do we say listen we have not been good enough and identify why and do the best to work around with what we have? Why should it take injury and suspension to players before they are replaced in the team? Eboue has not warranted a starting place since the emergence of walcott last season!